FIG. 1A is a diagram illustrating a conventional RFID tag 1 in plan view. FIG. 1B is a diagram illustrating an A-A cross section of the RFID tag as illustrated in FIG. 1A.
A Radio Frequency Identifier (RFID) tag 1 is a type of an RFID tag which can be fitted on goods such as clothes that are flexible and are worn by people.
As illustrated in FIGS. 1A and 1B, the RFID tag 1 includes an inlay 2 and a cover 3 which covers the inlay 2 and is made of gum elastic.
The inlay includes a base 4, an antenna 5, an IC chip 6, a chip reinforcing body 7 and backside reinforcing body 8.
The base 4 is made of a PET film. The antenna 5 is a type of an antenna for communication and is formed onto the base 4. The IC chip 6 is electrically connected to the antenna 5 and performs wireless communication via the antenna 5.
The chip reinforcing body 7 is made of a fiber reinforced resin and surrounds the IC chip 6. The chip reinforcing body 7 and the IC chip 6 are adhered onto the top surface of the base 4 by a thermosetting adhesion bond 9.
The backside reinforcing body 8 is made of a fiber reinforced resin in a similar fashion to the chip reinforcing body 7 and is adhered onto the bottom surface of the inlay 2 by the thermosetting adhesion bond 9.
Conventionally, there has been a film antenna including a conductive circuit which is made of metal and is formed onto at least one surface of a film that is made of modified polyolefin grafted with unsaturated carboxylic acid. The modified polyolefin grafted with unsaturated carboxylic acid provides electrical insulation properties.
The RFID tag can be fitted on goods such as sheets or towels professionally used at hotels and napkins or hand towels professionally used at restaurants for example, besides the goods that are worn by people.
In order to use the sheets or the like over and over again, for example, they are collected from the hotels and the restaurants by a laundry service provider and are returned to the owners after being washed at the laundry service provider.
Since the laundry service provider washes a large amount of laundry such as sheets or the like, the laundry service provider associates the laundry with names or addresses of the owners of the laundry every time the laundry is collected by the laundry service provider from the owners.
Since the laundry service provider handles an enormous amount of information such as the names of the owners, the laundry service provider manages the information easily and effectively by attaching the RFID tags to the laundry and by using identifiers of the RFID tags, for example.
However, for example, when the laundry service provider extracts water from the laundry after washing them with water, the laundry service provider may use an extracting machine in order to facilitate efficiency of extraction. The extracting machine includes a huge piston and a huge container, and extracts water from lots of the laundry in the container by pressing them with the piston. Hereinafter the way of the extraction as described above is referred to as a press extraction.
The diameters of the piston and the container may be a few meters, for example, in a case where the container has a cylindrical hollow shape. Since a pressure applied to the laundry by the piston may be ranging from 30 kgf/cm2 to 50 kgf/cm2, for example, the extraction is performed at a very severe condition for the RFID tags.
When the press extraction of the laundry fitted with the RFID tags that include the base made of the PET film or the reinforcing body made of the fiber reinforced resin is performed, the base or the reinforcing body may be broken by the pressure.
In a case where the base made of the PET film is broken, the antenna of the RFID tag may be broken. In a case where the reinforcing body made of the fiber reinforced resin is broken, the IC chip of the RFID tag may be broken. In any of these cases, there is a problem in that the RFID tag may be broken.
In a case where the press extraction is performed repeatedly, the problem as described above may occur with goods other than the sheets etc in a similar manner.
Herein, the conventional film antenna can be bent. Even if an RFID tag is manufactured by mounting the IC chip onto the film antenna, the RFID tag is not capable of withstanding the press extraction in a case where the RFID tag does not include an IC chip protecting member.
Even if the IC chip protecting member is attached to the RFID tag, the RFID tag is not capable of withstanding repeated press extraction in a case where the IC chip protecting member is made of hard material. In this case, the IC chip protecting member may be broken by repeated press extraction.
As described above, the conventional RFID tag has weak durability.